I used to make stuff out of polymer clay every free minute I get, and because of the lack of proper equipment (and the funds to get them), I stopped. And I miss it like you wouldn’t believe–I miss making little cupcakes and bears and hearts, I miss shaping the clay with my hands, I miss making every detail as perfect as possible.

I’m not very proud of the photo I used in this entry (obvz an epic lightbox fail), but I am rather proud of the winged heart pendant I used–which is something I made myself.

Soyah, make that another thing to check off my 2010 to-do list.

Cliche cliche cliche but as it turns out, cliches become cliches because they are true. Laughter really is the best medicine, and every person should have at least one person who can make him laugh like there is no tomorrow. Like, Coke-spraying-out-of-your-nose laugh. Yep. Coz otherwise all the craziness and the fucked-up shit in this world will drive you insane.

I’m lucky to have found friends who are blessed with the ability to find hilarity in the most mundane, everyday things.

Are you?

You should be.

Ever felt like just dropping everything and sailing away to a place where it’s just you, the sun, the sand, and the sea?

So. This is what, you know, quarter life and shit, really feels like. Everyone I know is headed somewhere–rasing kids, building families, settling into office careers, diving into business ventures, and whatnot–and I still feel like the kid who held a pen in her hand, scanning the courses our school offered, and not knowing what the heck to put down in the “First Choice” field of my college entrance exam form.

I turn 25 this year (ack!), and for me that means </frolicking>, if that indeed is what I’ve been doing since I graduated. I told myself I wanted a chance to enjoy first, to squander the money I make however I want, whenever I want. And when I reach 25, work and saving and life becomes serious bizniz.

I really don’t know where to start. I wish I can download some sort of e-book on How to Live Your Life Properly or some other crap like that, but we all know it doesn’t work that way. The only way to do this thing, and do it well, is to take leaps of faith–eyes closed, fingers crossed. Both feet, Humphrey.

2010 brings a lot of promise. I can soar or I can fall flat on my face, I can’t really tell for sure. I want to say and to believe that it’s all up to me. Perhaps it is. Perhaps it’s time to leave the safety of my nest and really learn to fly.

I’m happy we got to spend our New Year here, which is our first in this neighborhood. It reminds me a lot of how my hometown celebrated the coming of a new year: everyone’s outside, screaming, making noises, lighting firecrackers, kids jumping about, and teens turning up their speakers. And of course, the fireworks. I need not say much. Pretty much anyone who knows me well knows how much I love them, and the fascination that I hold for them. For me, fireworks are lit to cheer me up. And they never fail.

I’ve expressed my sentiments about how the previous year is an epic fuck-up, and I’m a little surprised to see so many people echo my views. I probably should have guessed: this year brought a lot of tragedies that it makes one wonder why the forces of whatever’s out there is hell bent on taking a huge, steaming dump on the Philippines. But my reasons for wanting to end 2009 are more selfish. I guess, in some ways, everyone else’s reasons are a little selfish too.

But New Years are always happy: they symbolize what everyone needs a little dose of, sometimes–a new beginning. A clean slate. A fresh start. Never mind that anyone can have these anytime they want. Sometimes people need something to remind them that all the mistakes and hardships and shit will definitely end, that everything will end all right. That after this one last night, everyone gets a do-over.

Happy New Year guys. Let’s make this one rock!

“I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes.”–Love Is All Around by Wet, Wet, Wet

2009 hasn’t been as good to me as 2008 was, and yet I enjoyed (most of) it in spite of it all. There is discontent, and yes, restlessness, but the care and affection of the people around me is a good balm.

Love really is all around me–I can feel it in my fingers. Can you too? :3

“When you adopt an animal, you create a little miracle. You right a little bit of what’s gone wrong in this harebrained planet of ours. You feel like every superhero rolled into one, because you took something dark and awful and made it light again.”–Carol Leifer

It’s alarming at times (and sometimes really depressing) how little people in the Philippines know about pet care. Most of the time, families take dogs to their homes with the idea that all they have to do is to give it a place to sleep and give it food and that’s it. They have no idea of the responsibilities that they must prepare for before the little critter gets home.

I love my pets to little bitty bits. They’ve been with me since they were three months old, and they’re 5 years old now. It’s amazing how much affection pets are capable of giving–even when you neglect them, or scold them, or forget to feed them. They love you nonetheless. Even I am not a perfect owner. But what I see almost every day–dogs so thin that their bones show through their skins, dogs cramped in cages that are obviously too small for them, dogs run over and their bodies left to decay on the streets–is heartbreaking. You can’t help but lose faith in humanity a little every time you see a person abusing an innocent, helpless creature.

I hope one day I can manage to adopt even just one stray animal and be able to give it a happy, loving home. I believe that this little act of kindness is enough to make a difference and, as miss Leifer rightfully says, create a little miracle.

Nothing beats the feeling of surrendering yourself totally into something you really love. The whole world melts away: It’s just you and the beat of your own drums.

Did you know?

That Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters mt.

That there is a seven-letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters? Therein : the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, here, ere, therein, herein.

That no words in the English language rhyme with orange, silver or purple?

That the only 15-letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable?

I sometimes wonder how much energy a person can produce in a day just by talking. Really, sometimes the fastest way to get things done is to STFU and just do it. Excessive complaining is, most of the time, a waste of words and energy.

Also, try not to talk to me when:

• My sleep has been interrupted, for whatever reason.
• I’m intent on finishing something.
• I’m tensed.
• I’m really, really tired.

..’coz I can be a real bitch during these times. Just noticin’.

*Language facts lifted here.